The Wasp — 1918 — page 202: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains **prose fiction rather than a political cartoon**—a serialized romantic story appearing in the satirical magazine *The Wasp*. The narrative depicts a melodramatic farewell scene between a uniformed officer (a "brave man" named James, based on context) and a woman. He's departing by ship for two weeks, and the passage explores their complicated emotional dynamic through period dialogue and flowery description ("elfin light," "starlit eyes"). The *Wasp*'s satirical angle likely targets **sentimental Victorian romance conventions**—the overwrought emotional language, the idealization of military service, and the passive female character who admits she loved James only "for an hour" suggest the magazine is gently mocking popular romantic fiction and the performative nature of 19th-century courtship rituals. Without seeing the magazine's broader context or illustration, the specific social criticism remains unclear, but the inclusion of this literary content suggests *The Wasp* mixed visual satire with literary parody.